Symbols
52Click a symbol to copy it and open its page.
Lala-Bisa letters
Plain Latin letters as used in Zambian spelling of the Bemba group. Sh, ny and ng’ are written with ordinary letters; ng’ takes the apostrophe below.
The ng’ apostrophe
Either form spells ng’: the straight keyboard apostrophe or the curly one phones type.
Punctuation and quotation marks
Lala-Bisa writing follows Zambian English punctuation: double curly quotes, single ones inside them.
Where it's spoken
Zambia, about 580,000 speakers (CLDR estimate). The kwacha has no Unicode sign; it is written with the letter K (K100).
Lala and Bisa country in emoji
🦇 the Kasanka fruit bat migration in Lala country; 🐟 the Bisa fisheries of Lake Bangweulu.
On the map
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Lala-Bisa language letters: plain A to Z, no accents
Lala-Bisa is one language whose best-known varieties, Lala and Bisa, are named after the two peoples who speak them (Ambo, Luano and Swaka are also listed as varieties). It is a Bantu language closely related to Bemba, and like Bemba it is written in the Latin alphabet without a single accented letter. Tone matters in speech, but everyday spelling does not mark it, so anything written in Lala or Bisa pastes into any phone, form or website.
The symbol grid above follows the Zambian spelling used for Bemba: A B C D E F G I J K L M N O P S T U W Y. C stands for the ch of church, G is hard as in go, and the five vowels a e i o u sound roughly as in Spanish or Italian. Sounds that English spells with two letters are spelled the same way here: sh, ny as in canyon, and ng’, the ng of singer. Unicode's CLDR has no alphabet on file for Lala-Bisa, so CLDR does not confirm this Bemba-based grid as Lala-Bisa orthography.
How to type the ng’ apostrophe
The apostrophe is the one sign Lala-Bisa writing really needs. Zambian spelling separates ng, n followed by a hard g as in finger, from ng’, the single sound of singer with no g after it. Bemba shows the difference clearly: ingoma is a drum, ing’ombe a cow. Drop the apostrophe and the reader has to guess.
Either apostrophe is fine. A keyboard types the straight one ', phones and word processors usually turn it into the curly ’ , and readers treat them as the same. On Windows the curly one is Alt0146 on the number pad, on a Mac OptionShift], and in HTML ’. Linguists sometimes write the sound as the letter ŋ, but Zambian schools and books use ng’.
Where Lala and Bisa are spoken
Lala-Bisa is a language of Zambia , where Unicode's CLDR estimates about 580,000 speakers. The Lala live mainly in Central Province, in Serenje and Mkushi districts and the chiefdoms around Chitambo. The Bisa live further north and east, around Mpika in Muchinga Province, in the Luangwa valley, and on the shores and islands of Lake Bangweulu and its swamps, where fishing is a way of life.
The 2023 Zambia Education Curriculum specifies English as the language of instruction across education levels and encourages code-switching in foundation learning. The neighbouring Bemba collection covers that language in detail, and Zambia's other languages have their own pages too: Nyanja, Tonga (Zambia), Lozi, Nsenga, Tumbuka, Lunda, Kaonde and Luvale. The Zambia collection has the flag, the kwacha and the country's emoji.
Lala and Bisa history in brief
The Bisa were famous long-distance traders. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries Bisa caravans carried ivory and copper from the Lunda kingdom of Kazembe in the Luapula valley east to the Portuguese and to the markets of the East African coast, and European travellers met Bisa traders far from home.
Lala country holds one of the best known places in Zambian history. David Livingstone died on 1 May 1873 at the village of Chief Chitambo in Ilala, as his journals call the land of the Lala, south of Lake Bangweulu. His heart was buried there under a tree before his companions carried his body to the coast, and a memorial marks the spot. Lala country is also home to Kasanka National Park, where millions of straw-coloured fruit bats arrive every year at the start of the rains, one of the largest mammal gatherings on earth.
How to use them
5 situationsClick to copyLala-Bisa Language combos
9Worth knowing
- Livingstone's journals call the Lala homeland Ilala; he died there, at Chief Chitambo's village, on 1 May 1873.
- Kasanka National Park in Lala country hosts millions of straw-coloured fruit bats each year, among the largest gatherings of mammals anywhere.
- Bisa traders were carrying ivory from the Luapula valley toward the East African coast long before the colonial era.
- Lala-Bisa has no letter that a plain keyboard cannot type: its only special mark is the apostrophe in ng’.
Questions people ask
6What is Lala-Bisa language?
A Bantu language of Zambia, closely related to Bemba, whose best-known varieties are Lala and Bisa. CLDR estimates about 580,000 speakers.
Where is Lala spoken in Zambia?
Mainly in Central Province, in Serenje and Mkushi districts and around Chitambo.
Where is Bisa spoken in Zambia?
Around Mpika in Muchinga Province, in the Luangwa valley, and around Lake Bangweulu and its swamps.
Is Lala the same as Bemba?
No, but they are close relatives in the same Bantu group, with much shared vocabulary. The Bible Society of Zambia's Lala New Testament is printed in Latin script, as Bemba is.
Does Lala-Bisa use accents?
No. It uses plain Latin letters; the only special mark is the apostrophe in ng’, which can be the straight ' or the curly ’.
How do you type ng’ on a phone or keyboard?
Type n, g and the apostrophe key. For the curly ’ use Alt0146 on Windows, OptionShift] on a Mac, or let the phone's smart punctuation insert it.
